Earlier this week, we talked about a bee habitat designed by Architecture students in Buffalo, and now we are bookending the week with more about bees and the design of the world’s smallest flying robot. But what do bees have to do with tiny flying robots? A team of science folk from Harvard has spent more than a decade trying to build a swarm of tiny, biomimetic robots that are inspired by the industrious insects. And if bee populations continue to decline, we may one day depend on buzzing swarms of these mechanical wonders to pollinate crops.

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When it comes to headphones I never used to be very particular, this coming from a guy who really loves music. The little white earbuds that Apple provided me with were just fine… that until I tried a pair of Sony MDRV150′s that Kyle had, basically studio style headphones. Instantly my life was changed. I was hearing things in songs that I never had heard before; it was like a miracle.

Since then I’ve been curious about other headphones, wondering if other might unlock even more musicsecrets. These new Harman/Kardon BT headphones are my new interest. Harman/Kardon recently decided to dip their toes into the headphone market, releasing 5 new styles. The BT model stands for Bluetooth, which means for once in my life I wouldn’t have to deal with cords. It is 2012, after all, we should have wireless everything. You can’t beat the design of these either. The combination of the metal with the black gives the headphones a classic profile while still feeling fresh. No retro design, thanks. I’ve also owned a pair of Harman/Kardon SoundSticks for about 10 years now and they’re still working great, so I know they make good products. I might just have to take a trip to an Apple store this weekend.

Tobias van Schneider has released an interesting spin on email, calling the concept .Mail. He clearly states that he’s not the first to try and reinvent email, but I think some of his ideas are really strong.

Common email clients are jam-packed with functionalities no one really uses because they don’t work with their personal flow. Your email program doesn’t have to incorporate every aspect of modern communication. It should help you check and read your mails. That’s what you’d expect it to do, right?

We’re able to produce absolutely stunning websites and mobile apps with great interaction design. Interfaces that are smooth and fun and let us understand information without even trying. But when it comes to email clients we get a bit of a boring feeling., like using an old piece of software from 10 years ago.

I think we can better. So let’s do that.

His main points are a clutter-free interface, clean typography, Actionsteps, more emphasis on attachments, as well as social/brand integration to add a bit of personality. I think his idea has boiled down the essentials of what’s really important put it in a slick wrapper that just looks great. I also love the idea of having access to all of the attachments in your email laid out in a grid, much like you would have on your desktop. As someone who dabbles in a lot of images for the site I’m sure this feature would be great. It would also be great for your mom who wants to quickly find pictures of grandkids, you know?

If you’re interested to see more you can click here to see his visual proposal. I’d certainly be interested in trying a product like this.